Collingwood is No Fairy Tale

I wrote this poem in about 1999 and my memory was jogged by my fairytale reference in the Buckley article below. Hope you enjoy:

Collingwood is No Fairytale

It is hard to put into words
That which sprung up from the suburbs
Giving rise to the legend that
Was born upon the river flats
In now fabled days of yore
When townships weekly went to war

So how do you sum up Collingwood?
I don't know if I could or should,
But much that seems great and good,
Is incarnate in Collingwood.

In 1892 spawned of Britannia,
In four short years we were the champions,
Founding members of the V.F.L.
Of the Pannams and Lee we still hear tell,
And now though he's passed,
Gone beyond and breathed his last,
His memory will never grow stale,
Collingwood still honours Jock McHale.
The league ignores the great McHale*,
For Collingwood is no fairytale,
Of his great deeds we all should know,
His greatest the four flags in a row.
The Coventrys and Colliers,
Still on the lips of all our followers,
And as war simmered down in the Rhine,
Enter his successor: Phonse Kine.

McHale was still alive to see,
The glory of 1953,
But in that year we mourned his passing,
His memory lives on - everlasting.

Now all Pies fans will hate,
Looking beyond 1958,
From then it all went off the rails,
Collingwood is no fairytale,
Through the 1960's we watched appalled,
Thinking 1970 was the worst of all,
Then in '79 we thought I hearts would fail,
Collingwood is no fairytale,
Carlton cheated with no qualms,
Oh for the treachery of Wayne Harmes.
Nine winless Grand Finals we endured,
And though great names came to the fore,
Tuddenham, Thompson, Peter Moore,
Picken, Dunne and of course the Shaws,
And those these greats did give their all,
Only one made the Honour wall.

For after 32 years of blame and doubt,
In 1990 we broke the drought,
'Twas a flag the team refused to yield,
With Tony Shaw the best afield,
Captain Courageous led the team,
Down the road to the impossible dream.

In a year and a day things would turn sour,
As the club then reached its darkest hour.
Collingwood is no fairytale,
And the next two lines do turn me pale:
Pants Millane left in his prime,
To take his place by McHale and Kine.

Since then the years they have been bleak,
We've seen a record losing streak,
The club defeated upon its centennary,
Our legends ignored in the 'Team of the Century'.
But doubt not that we will be back,
They'll again learn to fear the white and black,
We'll soldier on through the years of pain,
And though every supporter is going insane,
We know we'll soon be back again,
To honour the ghosts of Darren Millane,
Of Jock McHale and of Phonse Kine,
It won't be long, we'll just bide our time,
Our army ensures we'll never fail,
We'll do it without luck or fairytales.

*This poem was written before the AFL began to award the McHale Medal to the premiership coach each year. It was also written not long after Jock McHale was inexplicably overlooked as the coach of the AFL's Team of the Century in 1996.

Bucking Off

Fairytales in football are very rare indeed. Reparation for hard work is certainly more attainable but in no way assured.

Case in point Nathan Buckley. A player who at every moment in his career has taken extreme care of his body with impeccable attention to detail. Now, despite his diligence, that body is breaking down to the point that it may well never get him on to the field of battle again.

Meanwhile, it seems more so than ever we have innumerable talented individuals who are not willing to do the hard work necessary to attain the football excellence that is within their reach. Huge media fuelled egos and comfort in their celebrity – and fat pay cheques - ensure they will never reach the hallowed echelon reserved for the true greats of the game.

Alternatively we see – and admire – the Paul Licuria’s of the world: those that may not have the sublime skills that grab the headlines but who are willing to work their guts out to get to the line each week. Simple genetics dictate that they too will not attain the rarefied rank of greatness.

With many league footballers you seem to have a trade off between talent and hard work. Never have these two traits been melded so perfectly as with Nathan Buckley. It would therefore be a cruel fate that saw Buckley leave the game on anything but his own terms.

Over a decade of sustained excellence and a long list of playing honours have not shaded the record breaking captain’s gut busting work ethic – no doubt a strict adherent to the Steve Waugh ethos that you never stop improving.

There are few more majestic sights on a football field than the poise and vision of a Nathan Buckley field kick. The great tragedy is that unlike the wizardry of Shane Warne over the previous cricketing summer – and indeed James Hird this football season - we may not be able to marvel at his prowess on the field knowing it is soon to be gone. It may well already be gone forever.

But as always amongst Collingwood supporters hope springs eternal. The side may well extend its season beyond the 22 weeks, allowing the captain precious time to nurse his recalcitrant hamstring back to health. Justice would be to see the man known to the Magpie Army as ‘Bucks’ take the field for one last farewell, to say good bye on the shoulders of teammates rather than from the confines of a motorcade . A fairytale would be the victory dais on Grand Final day.

Though cruel reality and rational thought dictates that, tragically, we have seen Buckley play for the last time, we do have Jason McCartney to thank for the adage that in football – on very rare occasions - “fairytales do come true”.